OUR VIEW

Foster local food production

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Nov 09, 2012

Hawaii is a long way from achieving anything approaching food self-sufficiency — the capacity to produce locally a significant portion of the food its population needs — but some important strides have been made that need to be encouraged and amplified.
There is a lack of good baseline data on how much of Hawaii's food requirements actually are filled locally, a vacuum that the state is working to fill. However, the estimate officials now cite is that Hawaii grows only about 10 to 15 percent of it, a sobering figure.

Hawaii is a long way from achieving anything approaching food self-sufficiency — the capacity to produce locally a significant portion of the food its population needs — but some important strides have been made that need to be encouraged and amplified.

There is a lack of good baseline data on how much of Hawaii's food requirements actually are filled locally, a vacuum that the state is working to fill. However, the estimate officials now cite is that Hawaii grows only about 10 to 15 percent of it, a sobering figure. Login for more...